Tribes at odds on plan for W. Valley casino

Gila River Community wants judge to reject Tohono Reservation status

The Gila River Indian Community is urging a judge to reject efforts to force a federal agency to approve letting the Tohono O'odham Nation convert property it owns near Glendale into part of its reservation.

Legal papers filed by attorneys for the Gila River Community contend the Tohono O'odhams have no legal right to demand that the U.S. Interior Department approve making 135 acres near the Arizona Cardinals stadium into reservation. Tribal lawyers say there are a lot of unanswered legal and procedural questions, ones that have to be answered before reservation status can be granted.

But Tohono Tribal Chairman Ned Norris Jr. said the Gila River Community doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, calling the filing "an act of desperation" by that tribe for financial purposes.

"I wish they would really call it what it is," Norris said, "and as far as I'm concerned, what it is is an issue of market share."

The Gila River Community currently has the closest casino to Glendale and nearby communities, including Sun City. In fact, the tribe runs bus service from those areas to its casinos.

A casino closer to the area could cut into the Gila gaming profits.

But Jennifer Giff, general counsel to the Gila River Community, said it is the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose main reservation is located near Tucson, which is using its desire for casino profits to go "reservation shopping" into another tribe's area.

"In the past, every Arizona tribe has respected boundaries and history," she said in a prepared statement. "It's disappointing to see the (Tohono O'odham) Nation treat our culture and aboriginal history like some kind of backroom real-estate deal, where promises are made to be broken."

In seeking to intervene, the Gila River Community joins Glendale which already has filed its own opposition to what the Tohono O'odhams are seeking: an order from U.S. District Judge John Bates directing the Interior Department to approve reservation status.

Bates has scheduled a hearing for later this month to consider some of the issues.

Hanging in the balance is more than gaming profits for the two tribes. One of Glendale's concerns is the new resort will be just up the road from the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa, located within and collecting taxes for Glendale.

A 1986 law gave the Tohono O'odhams the right to purchase land in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties after a federal dam project on the Gila River flooded the San Lucy District. One of the parcels purchased by the tribe - under an assumed name - is on the edge of Glendale.

It was only last year that the true ownership became known when the Tohono O'odhams sought designation as part of the reservation. That move is legally necessary before the tribe can build a casino on the property, part of a $550 million complex that also will include a resort and shopping center.

When the Interior Department didn't act after more than a year, the Tohono O'odham Nation sued, asking Bates to force the federal agency to act.

An attorney for the tribe argued that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has no choice but to approve making the property part of the reservation. He said that although the Interior Department is entitled to take time to review the request, 14 months "is unreasonable under the circumstances."

Attorneys for Interior responded by asking Bates to throw out the case, saying the Tohono O'odhams have no right to demand that Salazar rule a certain way. The filings by Glendale, which does not want the casino on its border, and now the Gila River Community, give the judge more issues to consider.

Norris said he thinks Salazar is "dragging his feet," although the chairman said he doesn't know why.

One potential reason for the push is political timing.

The Tohono O'odhams escaped having the lands taken off the table for reservation inclusion when state Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, killed a bill that would have allowed Glendale to annex the property without tribal permission. That would have killed the casino plans because that 1986 law permits only unincorporated areas to be included in the reservation.